She’s having the time of her life, jumping up and down out of excitement and pressing sloppy kisses to Gabriel’s lips every time she wins.
“If only you’d come home with me tonight, so I could show you how frustrating the barrier of our clothes really is,” I say, watching her bet some money and join the game.
“Maybe I will, or maybe I’ll take you back to my place. I don’t care either way as long as you’re the one taking this dress off me,” is the last thing she says before winning a big chunk of money and stepping away to start doing the interviews she told me she’d be doing.
I watch after her for a long moment, trying to process what she just said.
Fuck.
She wants me.
I’m gonna take her dress off tonight and make her come so many times, she’ll be as addicted to me as I am to her.
Chapter 42
Nevaeh
Reckless,foolish,andstupid.
I know I’m being all of those things, telling Adrian I’d like him to take me home later, but I’m done.
I’m done pretending he’s not the one I want when seeing him in that tux, wearing an expression of pure, unfiltered joy and lust made me feel wanted in a way I never have before.
I’m done pretending because there is no one like Adrian Romana, no person who’ll ever treat me like I’m so much more than just good enough. Like I’m the very reason he breathes.
I’ve been with men and women, but none of them could ever compare to him.
There are a million things we have to figure out, whether or not he really wants a relationship, and if yes, can we keep this a secret until my job no longer prohibits us from being together? It won’t be easy, but I don’t care anymore. No good thing is ever easily accomplished, but they’re so much sweeter when you have them.
Adrian is my moon, in complete control of the feelings I have for him, and there’s no fighting his gravitational pull anymore.
“Nevaeh! You look beautiful,” Cameron Kion says as I approach, and I grin at him.
“You all look very handsome tonight,” I compliment him, James, and Leonard, who thank me before smiling at the same time. The synchronization makes me smile. Well, all of them but Leonard. He gives me a polite nod, as unhappy to be here as I would imagine a loving man to be when his wife and daughter are thousands of kilometers away from him.
We fall into a casual conversation, and I ask them some questions for my article, which they happily answer. I leave them shortly after and notice an area being cleared for dancing. Music fills the room as a hand grabs mine and guides me against Lincoln’s chest.
“Lincoln, what the hell are you doing?” I ask, a little uncomfortable that he’s touching me. We haven’t spoken in person in a long,longtime. Now that I live in Monaco, I was hoping I’d see him even less.
He sways me to the music for a moment, not a single word coming from him.
“I’m getting very uncomfortable, Linc,” I say, attempting to step out of his hold, but his grip tightens.
“Please, stay for a moment. I want to apologize,” he says, but I push against him again. He doesn’t let me go.
“I don’t want to hear your apology. You were right when you said I didn’t want to hear it all those months ago. I didn’t. I still don’t. You’ve hurt me too many times in the past, have staked a claim on me when I have not and never will be yours, and then we stopped speaking. It should stay that way.” He frowns at me, and his hands hold on even tighter, his fingers digging into my hips.
“So, you admit to being stubborn, and yet it’s still my fault? Do you see the problem, Nevaeh? It’s you. It was never me, and that isn’t fair.” Anger makes my cheeks heat and my heart race.
“We’re only here because you made a mistake four years ago that you can’t accept, the one that broke something between us I’ll never be able to fix.” Lincoln shakes his head with an angry look.
“You don’t even want to try!” he says, and I tug on the grip he has on me once more.
“You’re right, I don’t. Lincoln, you used to be everything to me. You were my best friend, the guy I fell in love with when I was a teenager. We were inseparable, but after we fell apart, I fell out of love. We drifted away from each other because you broke my trust when you stomped on the pieces of my broken heart. I’d just lost my dream and then I lost my best friend and first love in the same breath. That can’t be fixed. I don’t want it to be fixed. I want to move on with my life and leave us in the past, where we belong,” I explain, stopping my movements, but he still doesn’t release me.
“How could you be so selfish?” I’m so sick and tired of people throwing this at me whenever I make choices that will heal me, that can make me happy.
“Lincoln, let go of me. I’m done with this conversation,” I say, but he doesn’t. He holds tighter. Trying not to make a scene, I resist the urge to knee him somewhere very private.
